Ganim signed out of a halfway house in Hartford on Monday morning. He was sent there in January after being released from prison and was on home confinement for the past several months.

"It's a great day," he said. "It's been a long haul, and I really want to thank my family and my friends and so many people who have been so supportive for us over too many months to count."

Ganim was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2003 for steering city contracts in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in expensive wine, custom clothes, cash and home improvements. He got his sentence reduced by a year for participating in a drug treatment program.

Ganim said he will work at his family's law practice in Bridgeport while he works to get his law license back and didn't rule out a political future.

"I look forward from here to putting my life back together along with my family and becoming a contributing member of society again," he said.